Commissioner Period

Shri V P Menon arrived and stayed in Lal Kothi. He was advisor to the Indian government on proposed merger of princely states with Indian Union,

Finally, after a princely rule of 250 years, Bhopal was merged with the Union of India on 1st June 1949.

Nawab Hamidullah was the ruler of Bhopal at the time.

Bhopal became a Centrally Administered State under "Part C" for a period of 5 years.

Bhopal State included the present-day districts of Bhopal, Raisen, and Sehore.

Tri-colour of independent India was unfurled at the Lal Kothi for the first time on 1st June 1949.

26th Jan ceremony by last Commissioner

The government of India appointed an administrative head for Bhopal, called the Chief Commissioner

Lal Kothi was chosen as the official residence of the Chief Commissioner and was renamed Commissioner House.

The salient features of this period are as follows :-

Elections for Legislative Assembly and Parliament were held for the first time in Bhopal State in 1952.

Congress won the elections, and a 30-member State Assembly was sworn in.

The composition of the Assembly was as follows :-

28 - Congress

01 - Hindu Mahasabha

01 - Independent

Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma was sworn in as the first Chief Minister of the 1st democratic Government of Bhopal on 20th March, 1952 at Commissioner House.

Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma was the youngest Chief Minister at that time in India.

On 20th April 1952, the then State Minister at the Centre Shri Gopal Swami Aiyangar inaugurated the State Assembly.

The Hamidia Library served as the Vidhan Sabha in the Commissioner's period at Bhopal. Today, it is the office of the Lokayukta.

Hamidia Library - First Vidhan Sabha of Bhopal

Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru paid 11 visits to Bhopal.

He was so enamoured of Bhopal that he planned to make it the 2nd capital of India.

The ruler of Bhopal never interfered in the government's functioning.

The ruler of Bhopal donated land for the construction of the T.B. hospital at Idgah Hills.

Maharani Laxmi Bai college for girls was started in 1952. The building in which it was started was originally the office of the conservator of forests.

Maulana Azad College of Technology was set up in 1953. Initially, the classes were held at the present-day Polytechnic building. Now the MACT has been upgraded to a National Institute of Technology. Very shortly, it will be granted the status of an Indian Institute of Technology.

Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Polytechnic was started in 1955.

Gandhi Medical College came up in Dec 1955. To begin with, classes were conducted at the Polytechnic.